


A Gaping Wound

by trickytrinket



Series: Never Let Us Go [7]
Category: British Actor RPF, Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, Heartbreak, Romance, Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-27
Updated: 2015-01-27
Packaged: 2018-03-09 07:11:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3240923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trickytrinket/pseuds/trickytrinket
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tom never saw her again since their relationship ended years ago. But now, Carla Sunder showed up once again unexpectedly, with a wedding invitation on her hand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Gaping Wound

**Author's Note:**

> This one-shot is just an introduction chapter to a new fiction I'm working right now, and would be posted real soon. Comments are always welcome.

“Tom?”

She whispered his name quietly as if she was afraid of intruding his reading. Closing his book abruptly, Tom whirled his head around only to find the woman, his woman. No, not his woman, at least not anymore. The woman who used to be his, he corrected himself.

He gave her his best smile. But he knew and he was afraid that she knew if that smile didn’t reach his eyes. This was the first time he saw her after that day two years ago, when she moved out from his house. When she ended their relationship for good, at least according to her. And now Tom found himself agreeing with her statement. She was beautiful but now she looked ethereal. A lingering look at her would blind him, Tom thought.

In return, the woman gave him a wry smile which made Tom winced. If only her mere presence reminded him of the scar that she left, then her smile would only sliced them open once more.

“Carla,” Tom greeted her, his tone was flat, and he was surprised to find out how hoarse his voice was, “What are you doing here?” Tom decided to throw the question.

Averting her eyes to her shoes, the woman, Carla, smiled bitterly. They never contacted each other since she left his home. Even Tom didn’t try to reach out to her. But she knew, their mutual friends always told her about him. How Tom drank himself to oblivion almost every day after they broke up, how Tom fucked every woman that he met then lashed out at them the morning after, how he drowned himself in every role that he got. She knew and she would be lying if she didn’t care for him. She cared for him, very much. However, breaking up with him changed her. She was much cheerful now. She loved him, but at the end of the line she only loved to hate him at how he managed to turn her into an idiot.

“You didn’t lock your door, Tom.”

“One of my bad habits,” Tom murmured. He dared himself to take a good look at Carla. Gone was the gaunt-looking woman that screamed at him all those years ago, it was the woman who caught his attention all those years ago. Her strawberry blond hair, with soft curls. Her dimples. Her lips. Her smile. Tom’s mind wandered off to all those moments they shared together. How her hair gleamed under the sun, the mess she always resisted to clean up every time after she cooked a meal for them, how he missed her giggles when he tried to tease her, how she shrieked whenever Tom screamed spider at her just to make her stop talking, how he missed claiming her lips with his, or how he missed holding her close to his chest as they both listened to their heartbeat slowing down after they love making session every night. Scolding his mind, Tom gulped down hard, shaking his head, trying to put those past away. Not letting them to cloud his judgment.

Tearing her gaze from Tom, Carla took a few steps towards the man, invading his personal space. They were now standing toe to toe when suddenly Carla took something out from her red handbag. And Tom swore at that moment he nearly lost his balance when he recognized the item that Carla’s holding now. Rectangular card, emerald in colour, with a glittery gold ribbon wrapped around it. A wedding invitation with her name and her partner’s name on it.

With one deep breath, Carla put the invitation on Tom’s hand. Forcing him to hold it. Tom clutched the wedding invitation tightly, wondering maybe if he held it with enough force he would soon wake up from this nightmare.

Tom, on the other hand, closed his eyes as he tried desperately to control his breathing. They were shaky. He was an actor. He was supposed to be good at this. At pretending. That’s his job, that’s what he does for his living, but that’s also what cost him this woman. In front of her Carla, gone all the talents he had. He was just a man.

Still standing close to Tom, Carla whispered, “I’m sorry. Be there, my handsome man,” Her hand now moved to cup Tom’s face lightly. With his eyes fixed on hers, Tom leaned into her hand, embracing and treasuring her warm touch for one last time. Tearing her hand away from Tom’s face, Carla turned swiftly, exiting the house, and closing the front door behind her back. Leaving Tom standing alone in the middle of his living room. He caught a whiff of her rosy scent as it still lingered in the air around him. Then all of sudden, he released the emerald card from his clutch. The card hit the floor, followed by his body. Seeing her name, Carla Sunder, with another man’s name, Lucas Finley, etched on the invitation. Tom let out a loud gasp, and soon enough he was sobbing. Gasping, wailing, as he felt his lungs were going to burst from the absence of oxygen. Carla has cast a long shadow on him, that much was definite. After these years not seeing her, bottling up his feelings and emotions, then seeing her in his home without warning and with a wedding invitation, it broke him all over again. People said the wound will disappear over time and the scar would be the only thing left. What they didn’t know yet is the scar, given the right trigger, could turn into a wound all over again.


End file.
